The first Internet was a communications system funded and built by researchers for military use. This Internet, originally known as ARPANET, was embraced by the research and academic communities as a mechanism for scientists to share and collaborate with other scientists. This collaborative network quickly evolved into the information superhighway of commerce and communication. The Internet explosion was due, in part, to the development of the World Wide Web (WWW) and graphically-based Web browsers, which facilitated a more graphically-oriented, multimedia system that uses the infrastructure of the Internet to provide information in a graphical, visual, and interactive manner that appeals to a wider audience of consumers seeking instant gratification.
As the technology underlying transmission bandwidth has grown in conjunction with the accessibility to such increasing transmission bandwidth, a new paradigm for the old idea of Internet collaboration is emerging that takes advantage of the modern graphical, visual world. This new paradigm is also driven by the advance in real-time or time-sensitive data transmission technology, such as Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology, and the like. Non-Internet videoconferencing, which has generally never been able to completely supplant teleconferencing as a viable means for reliable communications, is slowly fading away in favor of Internet-driven technology, such as collaborative electronic meetings. Services, such as WEBEX COMMUNICATIONS, INC.'S, WEBEX™ electronic meeting or collaboration services offer the ability for users to connect at least initially, across the Internet to share voice, video, and data in real time for meetings, presentations, training, commercial sales, or the like.
Traditionally, electronic meetings or web conferences involve a virtual meeting room which supports various forms of communication such as voice/video communications, document sharing, application sharing, and screen-sharing applications. To launch a web conference, an organizer generally gives each participant a conference time and a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) that connects to the website supporting the virtual meeting room. Accordingly, communication typically begins when participants enter the correct URL during the designated time. However, such a method of web communication prevents spontaneity because the organizer generally coordinates the meeting time and place first, and then supplies the correct URL. Spontaneity is not as critical for typical business related conferences, but in the consumer world, spontaneity is generally very important. As such, if a consumer wants to communicate with a business representative via a web conference, as the technology currently exists, the representative typically still establishes a time and place for the conference and provides the consumer with the proper URL before the conference can begin. Furthermore, if the consumer or representative has the wrong information, the conference will typically fail because one of the participants cannot access the virtual meeting room. In a consumer world that seeks instant gratification and instant information for making purchasing decisions, this cumbersome communication process deters those consumers from seeking immediate assistance thereby decreasing the potential business and diminishes the value of web conferencing for consumer-related applications.
The time delay and administrative overhead of pre-planned web conferences was partially resolved for more immediate-minded interactions by establishing hyperlink-embedded advertisements, such as banner advertisements (banner ads). For example, a consumer sees a banner ad in an application (e.g., a website, a web application, and the like) that includes a “Talk Now” button. Once selected by the consumer, the URL link embedded in the ad takes the consumer out of context of the current application or website and into the business's website. The consumer may have an entire new browser window opened or may have the currently-opened browser jump to the new website.
This process gets the consumer to the business' website, where the consumer may have to wade through several screens of marketing material or advertisements before being presented with a communication option. Furthermore, in order to initiate live communication with a business representative, both the business representative and the consumer generally need to have the same communication application. This may be facilitated by using a common or popular communication application, such as one of the instant messaging (IM) applications, a phone number, or maybe a proprietary application offered by the business. If a proprietary application is used, the consumer would typically need to download and install that application before beginning communication.
Moreover, some businesses or vendors do not maintain websites. Individuals who perform services in a home-based business, sole proprietorship, or other small business may not necessarily maintain a website or, at least, a website with more than just contact information. Such non-web vendors would generally have no adequate means for participating in a similar type of banner ad-driven communication system.
A feature developed to leverage the ubiquity of phones with the Internet is called pay-per-call advertisements. Generally, a pay-per-call advertisement features an advertisement, such as a banner ad, for a service, product, or the like. When a consumer selects the advertisement a separate application or applet, such as a dialer box, pops up prompting for the consumer's phone number. After the consumer enters the phone number, the dialer box places phone calls to the consumer's phone number and the business' phone number, which is typically stored in the code of the advertisement. After both lines are connected, the consumer and business representatives communicate over the telephone. However, this means of communication is limited in that it supports only telephone-based conferences. Furthermore, a consumer may be hesitant to enter his or her phone number, believing that by doing so, he or she would become subject to telemarketing calls or other personal phone-based invasions. Especially in cases where the business' phone number or any other contact information is not displayed in the advertisement, which it would not require.
Such limitations are partially overcome by Instant Messaging (IM) which supports a variety of communications including text, video, voice, and data. Traditional communication over the internet via IM requires each participant use the same IM client such as AMERICA ONLINE-INSTANT MESSENGER® (AIM(®) or YAHOO MESSENGER®. When a user wants to launch a communication session, the user logs into an TM client, selects a buddy from his/her buddy list, and sends the buddy an invitation to communicate. Thereafter, if the buddy is currently logged into the same IM client, the IM client sends the invitation to the buddy asking whether the buddy wants to join a communication session. If the buddy accepts, the IM client launches the communication session, and the user and buddy communicate via the IM client application.
Accordingly, traditional IM communications have considerable limitations. First, because different IM clients are generally not compatible with each other, IM requires both the user and buddy to utilize the same IM client. Therefore, in a business setting, if the consumer utilizes AIMO and the business utilizes YAHOO MESSENGER®, the consumer and business generally can not communicate. Furthermore, traditional IM clients do not allow strangers to set up web conferences. Therefore, if a consumer wants to communicate with a business, the consumer typically must search for the business's IM user name, add the business to his/her buddy list, and then the user can send the business an invitation to communicate. Such a process again slows communication, thereby undermining spontaneity.